the_castle_library's reviews
72 reviews

This was beautifully written and very accurate to what it's like walking around with a secret that big. It is a hard task to talk about something that feels dirty on your skin, but it's a much better alternative than locking yourself in your head about it. You can save yourself and someone else. Speak until someone takes action. 1(800)656-4673 is a National help hotline. 

Melinda and her friend, Rachel, get invited to a high school party the summer before 9th grade and something big happens, so Melinda calls the cops and the party gets shut down. Melinda is caught being the "rat" and now everyone hates her, including Rachel. She can't say out loud to anyone what happened or why she called the cops and it's eating her alive. Melinda tries to move on and make new friends, but she's depressed and stuck. She stops talking, for the most part, because she's afraid if she does, it'll all come flowing out. Throughout the story, she goes through metamorphosis until she's finally able to speak up about what happened in order to save someone else.

What a great adventure this was to read! I wish there was more following this book, but it is an epic standalone! It was full of twists and turns: fun, romantic, thrilling, and sad.

Two best friends have a shared love for a book, "Moira". They have tried contacting the Author for book signings, meet and greets, or just for coffee to talk about the book and if there are plans for anything else from that world, but no one has been able to contact her and her address isn't listed anywhere, even though she lives in the same city, Boston.
Edelle is outgoing, a dreamer, and a romantic, whereas Connie plays it safe, a tomboy, and practical. Edelle has been hanging out at a local shop, Witch's Eye Emporium, more than usual lately and has become close with the proprietor. He has filled Adelle's dreamer head with promises that he can transport her into the world of "Moira" and she takes the bait hook, line, and sinker and drags Connie into it too.
Once they get there, everything is out of sorts. Nothing is blissful and romantic and the characters aren't who they appeared to be in the story either. They have to figure out what has happened to change their beloved book and try to set it right. 
My rating for romance is 💖

I'm trying to track down its sequel "Gone Rogue".

SPOILERS if you haven't read "The Lunar Chronicles"  Series!!!
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This story is set 7 months after the events in "Winter". Queen Selene is still trying to wrangle the wolf-hybrids that Levana sent to Earth. They are refusing to go back to Luna in fear of being controlled again and they won't listen to Cinder because they think she's just another Luna Monarch, out to control or destroy them.

An Echo Ridge Anthology - This is a 5 book romance series set in Echo Ridge, NY around a department store, Kenworth and its Hope Tree. Five different love stories all based at the same time involving various townspeople. My rating for romance for each is 💖💖💖

This is book 1 in the Death Games series. Book 2 comes out in September 2024 and I'm so excited to get my hands on it!

It's described as a Japanese Jumanji and I can agree with that description! It has an author's warning at the beginning for triggers and that automatically made it a good start for me. Five friends started a card game in a cave 4 years ago, only 4 went home, and they stopped talking to each other for 4 years until...... 😳🫣 They have to go back to the cave and finish the game that they started, together. Can they succeed in time?

A 13 year old boy, Conor, is struggling with coming to terms with the reality that he is going to lose his mom to cancer. He starts having nightmares before she's even diagnosed because his subconscious knew something was wrong and she wasn't going to survive it. He ends up accidentally calling upon a monster for help that he thinks is a new dream. He's forced to face the truth and come to terms with what is going to happen. I found the meaning to be very powerful and could relate as I lost my only brother to cancer in 2022.

A Tea Shop Mystery: Book #1

We are introduced to the main character, Theodosia Browning, who lives in Charleston, SC and owns a tea shop and her helpers, Haley and Drayton. Someone dies at an event Theo is catering and she suspects foul play. An investigator is brought in, but she decides to try to solve the case herself to clear her and her associate's names from being suspects.

Lost in the Never Woods" by Aiden Thomas follows Wendy 5 years after she is found unconscious in the woods behind her house and brothers, John and Michael, nowhere to be found. She can't remember what happened, why they were in the woods, and where John and Michael were. Now children all over town are starting to go missing and an unexpected visitor shows up that needs her help and is possibly linked to the disappearances and finding her lost brothers. The ending was not how I had anticipated. If you don't know the Peter Pan lore, it could be rather upsetting. I was upset and I am aware of his lore.

A con artist is getting out of jail early on good behavior and rehabilitation, too bad it was all an act and he hasn't actually turned a new leaf. He has planned a heist to get his hidden gems and flea the country. He hid the gems in a tree just before he got caught and sent to jail and now that tree has been voted to be this year's famous Rockefeller Christmas tree 😆 Can he get to his gems before they move the tree and it becomes the center of attention in NYC? 🤔 It kept me on my toes and I would have finished it one sitting if I could have 😅

This is the sequel to "The Christmas Bookshop". It was just as quaint as the first book, followed the same characters, and added in a couple new ones. This one was more heavily based around Carmen and mentions less of her sister, Sofia, and her nieces and nephews than the first book as the dynamics change. Carmen does some shop remodeling to try to make more money because there's a new hot shot in town that's trying to buy up all the stores on the block and turn them into bulk tourist shops that sell stereotypical Scottish paraphernalia 🤢 She also trys to put herself back out into the world to feel more like her age. 

The part I wait for through the whole book happens at the very end, which left me feeling kind of unsatisfied. My rating for romance is 💖